Challenge Roth 2015

[Garfield2010]

Ok so after a 10 hour flight I had 2 days to recover before heading off on another 8 hour drive to Roth due to traffic (was supposed to be 6). Went for a short run in Cologne the Thursday afternoon and realized it was hot in Europe.

 

Left at 05am on Saturday morning. We arrived in Roth about 5 minutes before registration closed so that was quite hectic in itself and I was stressed.

 

I had virtually no time to pack my T-bags so I went into this race having to rely on the nutrition along the route namely high five. I also missed the race briefing so had no idea what was awaiting me.

 

Race morning was amazing with the vibe and support everywhere. They played Vangilis like music which really got the theme going. The start was awesome. 15 waves 5 minutes apart. When the wave before your is gone you jump in and swim to the wetstart. I have never seen so many people at the start of a race. You swim in a channel thats about 50 metres wide. You swim up on the one side and back on the other.

 

The swim was awesome. Struggled the first half until I realized everyone was swimming close to the shore were the current was strong.

 

Came out in 01h16 and I am happy considering I only swam 4 times after IMSA and the furthest being 1.5km.

 

The bike course is incredible. The roads are slick and if I saw 3 guys with punctures then that is a lot. There was vehicles on route with wheels. not repairs, wheels!!!

 

There was also around 100 bikes on the course. Athletes was never "alone" so no one even considered drafting as it was impossible to be honest.

 

Every 5 miles or so there was a little town and everyone come out to support. They say there was 250,000 supporters there on race day so you can imagine.

 

Solar hill was goosebumps. You ride up there in Tour De France fashion. with thousands of people going crazy and touching you. I cannot explain it.

 

Anyways that cost me cause due to the adrenaline I went up there way too fast - but what can I say? I was Alberto Contador for 5 minutes of my life... I biked 06h10 which I was happy with as I ate foreign nutrition and rode on a borrowed bike with very wide T-bars and it hurt my neck and shoulders.

 

The run was hot. It was 34 degrees or something and I nearly passed out. I am from Bloem and we had a very cold last month so I was not ready for this heat.

 

I saw my 12 hour dream slipping away. Then at around 30km it suddenly started raining. At first this made it worse but then eventually it cooled down. More than half of the run was off road. You run a one loop course and basically run to little towns as well. Thousands of supporters everywhere. I did not even use my MP3 player which is allowed in Roth on the run.

 

Finishing was very emotional and I came in at 11h54 so I was super happy considering the circumstances. (traveling / wind / heat)

 

Words cannot describe the event. All I can say is that this is a bucket list race for sure.

 

After the race we went to Paris and watched the Tour de France.

[Garfield2010]

[Garfield2010]

[SwissVan]

 

There was also around 100 bikes on the course. Athletes was never "alone" so no one even considered drafting as it was impossible to be honest.

 

 

You rode a borrowed bike..brave man and despite the heat you still had a great run... 4hrs16 i think?

 

Eh? I r confused easily... does that mean there were like 100 ref's on motorbikes and everyone did not draft or there were too many bicycles on the course and it was impossible not to draft?

 

As i got a drafting penalty in ZRH (6 minutes standing still holding a stop watch...long enough to screw up my goal 30kmh avg) i have a extra keen interest in the subject now....

[JGR]

Incredible Garf!!! well done boet!

[Garfield2010]

You rode a borrowed bike..brave man and despite the heat you still had a great run... 4hrs16 i think?

 

Eh? I r confused easily... does that mean there were like 100 ref's on motorbikes and everyone did not draft or there were too many bicycles on the course and it was impossible not to draft?

 

As i got a drafting penalty in ZRH (6 minutes standing still holding a stop watch...long enough to screw up my goal 30kmh avg) i have a extra keen interest in the subject now....

 

There was so many motorcycles with refs on the back. They are all basically 400 metres apart and ride at around 40km/hour. It is a massive presence hence no one drafted or at least I didn't see anyone.

 

I wanted to run sub 4 hours but went way too hard in the last 10km on the bike due to a miss calculation.

 

6min time penalty sucks. All the muscles get cold and the acid forms messing up the rest of the race.

[SwissVan]

There was so many motorcycles with refs on the back. They are all basically 400 metres apart and ride at around 40km/hour. It is a massive presence hence no one drafted or at least I didn't see anyone.

 

I wanted to run sub 4 hours but went way too hard in the last 10km on the bike due to a miss calculation.

 

6min time penalty sucks. All the muscles get cold and the acid forms messing up the rest of the race.

 

It definetly messed up my race because I was paranoid about getting another penalty (2 and your DQ'd). For the first lap (90km) it was quite crowded and had to really concentrate on either slowing down to keep a 10m gap or to constantly pass people. I got the penalty at km 27 (the first 30km is fast and flat) and it was virtually impossible to keep 10m without riding really slow or faster than normal. My CEO passed me while i was serving the penalty so i opted for the play catch up and pass everybody option but paid for it on the second lap and had to ride more conservidly on the second lap.

 

Was the drafting gap also 10m at Roth, and how did they keep it early in the cycle when its still crowded?

[Garfield2010]

Hey Swiss

 

Yes well I think what helped was the fact that we started in 15 + waves. From the pros to the last starter was more than 60 minutes and we started in 5 minute intervals.

 

This meant T1 etc was not as congested as you normally get in an IM race.

 

I mean do the math............ Ilets say 4,000 starters with one wave start as IM normally does....

 

Then around 60% of all athletes swim between 01h10 and 01h20 meanign technically 2,400 athletes will start cycling within 10 minutes (or 5km) from one another.

 

2,400 x 10 metres is 24km. So technically the 10 metre law is impossible.

 

I do think however two things are important here.

 

1.) The athlete must put an effort in not to draft. In other words if 10 meters is impossible keep 7 meters and maybe ride a different line than directly behind the guy in front of you without blocking the next. If a guy passes you sit up for a few seconds to show you are letting up. Don't brake.

 

2.) The refs need to evaluate athletes over a period of time instead of reacting on a first impression. If they ride at 40km per hour, they should see every athlete for a minute or longer and will easily see if the guy is drafting or not.

[SwissVan]

Hey Swiss

 

Yes well I think what helped was the fact that we started in 15 + waves. From the pros to the last starter was more than 60 minutes and we started in 5 minute intervals.

 

This meant T1 etc was not as congested as you normally get in an IM race.

 

I mean do the math............ Ilets say 4,000 starters with one wave start as IM normally does....

 

Then around 60% of all athletes swim between 01h10 and 01h20 meanign technically 2,400 athletes will start cycling within 10 minutes (or 5km) from one another.

 

2,400 x 10 metres is 24km. So technically the 10 metre law is impossible.

 

I do think however two things are important here.

 

1.) The athlete must put an effort in not to draft. In other words if 10 meters is impossible keep 7 meters and maybe ride a different line than directly behind the guy in front of you without blocking the next. If a guy passes you sit up for a few seconds to show you are letting up. Don't brake.

 

2.) The refs need to evaluate athletes over a period of time instead of reacting on a first impression. If they ride at 40km per hour, they should see every athlete for a minute or longer and will easily see if the guy is drafting or not.

.... we had 2600 athletes with 2 waves 5 minutes apart. First wave was meant for those who could swim under 70 minutes and the second for the others, but was voluntary so you could choose which wave you want to start in. The ref that black carded me was (imo) an overzealous escaped nazi prison camp warden... while I was serving my penalty which was on the first climb I saw him red card (DQ) a rider right in front of the penalty box for riding abreast (blocking) on a climb, there was no one trying to overtake him he was in fact slowly (it was a climb) overtaking other riders who because of the climb were riding much less than 10m apart...On the second lap a bunch of about 50 came past me taking up the whole lane and a few minutes later while they were still in sight a different ref rode past but going in the opposite direction but did not even slow down to warn / scare them..totally ignored them. Very in consistent.... but ja you as a rider have to do what u can to avoid their attention. edit: Sorry bloody IE 11 paragraph / return key not working Edited August 8, 2014 by SwissVan

[MDW]

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